Teat cleaning brush

ABSTRACT

A teat cleaning device ( 1 ) contains a number of rotatable cleaning brushes ( 11 ) which have a spiral or helical cleaning surface ( 17 ).

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the National Stage entry under 35 U.S.C. 371 ofInternational application PCT/SE98/02197 filed on Dec. 1, 1998.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus according to the preambleof claim 1 for cleaning the teats of animal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A problem when milking dairy animals is how to ensure that the teats ofthe animal are clean before milking commences. As manual teat cleaningis labour-intensive, inefficient and time consuming various machines forcleaning teats have been proposed.

The German patent DE 127 384 describes a device with a plurality ofelongated brushes mounted vertically on a holder. The brushes can rotateabout their vertical central axis and have horizontally projectingbristles which can brush the surface of any teats introduced verticallydown between the brushes. As the teat advances downwards the bristlesare pushed down and away from the tip of the teat. A problem with thisdevice is that when the teat is fed down between the brushes it itsdownward movement is resisted by the bristles and the teat is axiallycompressed. This causes skin folds or increases the depth of the skinfolds already present and lead to inadequate cleaning of the teat.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to overcome the problems of theprior art teat cleaning devices. These problems are overcome by a teatcleaning device having the features mentioned in the characterisingportion of claim 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention the vertically mounted rotatable brushes areprovided with a cleaning surface which is arranged in a spiral orhelical shape.

By a suitable choice of the direction of the spiral surface and thedirection of rotation of the cleaning brushes, as the teat is introducedinto the device the rotating brushes can be made to grip the teat anddrag it downwards. This stretches the skin of the teat thereby reducingor eliminating the skin folds and allowing the cleaning surface to cleansubstantially the whole of the surface of the teat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described more closely with the help of examplesof embodiments and the appended figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a view from above of one embodiment of a brush arrangement fora cleaning device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along line II—II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a roller according to a secondembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a simplified view from above of a teat cleaning device 1 inwhich driving and supporting parts non-essential for the understandingof the invention have been omitted for the sake of clarity.

Teat cleaning device 1 comprises a box-like holder 3 with a teatreceiving opening 5 in its upper surface 7. Holder 3 is intended to beplaced under the udder of an animal to be milked with opening 5 below ateat which is to be cleaned. Holder 3 is then raised so that the teatenters the holder through opening 5. Holder 3 contains a plurality ofcleaning means 9 shown here as elongated cylindrical brushes 11 withbristles 13. Holder 3 also contains cleaning fluid supplying means (notshown) and preferably drying air supplying means (not shown). Brushes 11are each oriented with their longitudinal axis substantiallyperpendicular to the plane of upper surface 7 and are arranged in acircle with a central space 15 able to receive a teat. Brushes 11 arerotatably mounted on holder 3 and can be rotated by driving means (notshown) of any suitable type. There are preferably an even number ofbrushes 11 and each brush 11 rotates in the opposite direction to itsneighboring brushes 11 as is shown by the arrows. Brushes 11 havepreferably radially projecting bristles 13 attached by their proxialends 19′ to a central longitudinal shaft 20. For the sake of clarify ofillustration the bristles are shown in the figures as individualbristles but they naturally can be formed by tufts or bunches ofbristles. The distal ends 19″ of bristles 13 define a cleaning surface17.

As can be seen in FIG. 2 bristles 13 are arranged in spiral patterns 21on the brushes 11 so that the cleaning surface 17 has the shape of ascrew thread. The thread 23 of the spiral pattern 21 on each brush is 11adapted to the intended direction of rotation of the brushes 11 as shownby the arrow so that a teat 25 received in the central space 15 wouldtend to be drawn downwards by friction between the tips 19 of thebristles 13 of the rotating brushes 11 and the teat 25. The use ofcounter-rotating neighbouring brushes 11 prevents the teat 25 beingdrawn sideways out of the central space 15. Thus as the holder 3 islifted vertically with a vertical speed v and the teat 25 to be cleaned19 enters the holder 3 it comes into contact with the rotating brushes11 and is drawn down into the holder by the spiral patterns 21 on thecleaning surfaces 17 at a rate which is greater that the vertical speedv of the holder 3. This causes the teat 25 to be stretched downwards andany folds of skin are stretched out and drawn smooth. This permits amore thorough cleaning of the teat surface. In a preferred embodiment ofthe invention the pitch of the spiral patterns 21 increases from the topto the bottom of the brushes 11 in order to ensure that the tip of theteat 25 is stretched.

Once the teat has been cleaned for a sufficient length of time the driveto the brushes can be stopped or reversed in order to facilitate theextraction of the teat 25 from the cleaning device 1.

In a second embodiment of a cleaning device according to the inventionshown in FIG. 3, the spiral pattern is formed by one or more spiralgroove(s) 27 being formed in and on the cylindrical surface 17′ of acylindrical resilient rubber roller 29. Preferably the groove or grooves27 have a progressivelly increasing pitch as they travel down the roller29 in order to ensure that the teat is fully extended.

In another conceivable embodiment of the invention the longitudinal axisof the brushes are inclined a few degrees to the vertical, e.g. up to 10or 15 degrees, so that the distance between the brushes at the top ofthe holder is greater than the distance between the brushes at the baseof the holder in order to form an inverted cone shaped central opening.In this way the tip of the teat is gripped more tightly the further itpenetrates into the holder.

In a further conceivable embodiment of the invention the cleaning meanshas a substantially conical shape with a spiral pattern formed in itscleaning surface.

In yet a further conceivable embodiment of the invention some of thecleaning means are driven while the remainder are not driven.

While the invention has been illustrated with brushes made of bristlesand rollers made of rubber, any type of cleaning means, for examplebrushes with loops or U-shaped strands of resilient thread, groovedsponges, textile rollers or their equivalents, may conceivably be usedinstead of brushes made of bristles and rollers made of rubber andcombinations of different types of cleaning means are also possible.Thus it is, for example, conceivable to use a holder containing amixture of bristle brushes and rubber rollers, or indeed to havecomposite rollers comprising, for example a sponge portion and a bristleportion.

It is also conceivable that the cleaning means are adjustably mountedinto the holder in order to permit the distance between the cleaningmeans to be varied to accommodate teats of different size.

What is claimed is:
 1. Teat cleaning device (1) for cleaning teats (25)of an animal, said device being movable vertically for introduction of ateat therein, wherein said device (1) comprises a plurality ofcircumferentially separated teat cleaning means (9, 29), each of saidcleaning means (9, 29) being rotatable about its respective longitudinalaxis, said axis being oriented substantially vertically, said cleaningmeans (9, 29) having a helically shaped peripheral cleaning surface (17,17′), and the direction of rotation of each cleaning means (9, 29) beingchosen with respect to the direction of the helix of each cleaning means(9, 29) in such a way that the teat is dragged downwards when it isintroduced into the device.
 2. Teat cleaning device according to claim1, characterised in that it comprises an even number of cleaning means(9, 29) and that adjacent cleaning means (9, 29) are rotatable inopposite directions.
 3. Teat cleaning device according to claim 1,characterized in that said helical cleaning surface (17, 17′) comprisesa helix having a varying pitch.
 4. Teat cleaning device according toclaim 3, characterised in that said helical cleaning surface (17, 17′)comprises a helix having a pitch which increases from top to bottom ofsaid cleaning means (9, 29).
 5. Teat cleaning device according to claim1, characterized in that said cleaning surface (17, 17′) is resilient.6. Teat cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that saidcleaning surface (17) comprises distal ends (19) of bristles (13)projecting from a central shaft (20).
 7. Teat cleaning device accordingto claim 1, characterized in that said cleaning means (29) comprises anessentially cylindrically shaped body (29) and wherein said helicalcleaning surface (17′) comprises one or more helical grooves (27) formedin or on said body (29).
 8. Teat cleaning device according to claim 1,characterized in that said cleaning means (29) comprises an essentiallycylindrically shaped body (29) and wherein said helical cleaning surface(17′) comprises one or more helical grooves (27) formed in or on saidbody (29).
 9. Teat cleaning device according to claim 1, characterisedin that said longitudinal axis is inclined up to 15° to the vertical.